May 17, 2019 - Day 3 to DC - Gallup, NM to Eagle Nest, NM

Today was a little chilly, about 50.  And the winds were still blowing.
Started off the day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.

As I was walking through the parking lot, I noticed Rich Boy’s License plate, from Hawaii = RFTW.  I would guess no one in Hawaii has that one.  Lee from Kentucky has RFTW and Brian has IRFTW for Ohio.  Love it!!!

Check out this quilt. All Harley t-shirts.   Another one made for us to auction off. 

 Remember we have LEOs escorting us all the way to the Border.  Eamon said now we know how the President feels.
He also mentioned that one of the gas stops was donated by a Harley dealer.  Then he asked all the Honda riders to thank the Harley riders.   You getting the idea there is a bit of fun between them.

 Remember the shovel I showed you yesterday.  This is Gomez.  He is also our assistant state coordinator for New Mexico.

  Here we are all ready to go. Imagine 300+ bikes running.  I never get tired of that sound.

 Early in the morning and people still come out the wish up well.

 Not looking too good.  We actually got rain for maybe 5 miles…..

 …..then it cleared up.  Beautiful blue skies.

 Pull in to Route 66 Casino.  AND another gas stop paid.  This one by Thunderbird Harley Davidson.

These little cuties came by to say "Thanks".  Love the outfits. Thanks guys for taking the time to come out.  This is great to show our future generation.

 Here are the LEOs lined up and ready to go.  There are state , city and county officers engage to get us through.  It is my understand that they love to sign up for this detail.

 This is Jackie.  He is the mayor of Gallup and loves to ride with us to Eagle Nest.  He was a big part of RFTW and has participated in many roles over the years.  Thanks for joining us.  Looks like they may have put him to work. He has Road Guard arm bands.

LEOs holding 3 lanes of traffic so we can get on the highway.  

The 2 buses are from the kids of Cochiti.  Several years ago the school was trying to get the kids more energized about learning.  So there was an incentive idea.  If you have perfect attendance, get good grades and have good behavior, you could ride the bus to stand on the bridge to see RFTW go thru.  The first year there was 20 kids.  Now check out the bridge.  Soon they will have to make a bigger bridge.  They also have to rent the bus  to get there.  To do that, the kids would have bake sales and other events to raise the money.  Great lessons.  This year they have 2 buses and check out how many kids are there. Again a very poor part of the country.  If you have earned the honor to go on the bus in May, around Labor Day, Jenny, Ken and a few other RFTW member go back to the school and the kids get RFTW pins.  They love it.  Last  few years, the school struggled to get enough money for school supplies.  RFTW was able to take money to help the school out.  The people there were so grateful.

In 2018, another school, Santo Domingo joined in.  They too have had great response from the kids.  Looks like the same pic as the one above but it is not.  Last year, they only had1 bus. Way to go kids!

September 2018 we had the opportunity to visit the schools. The kids were very excited to see the motorcycles come.  Here are some pics from the schools.

Santo Domingo

Cochiti

 Papa Smurf having a little fun with the kids.

OK back to the Run.

Breath taking and this does not even do it justice.

This is Wild Bill.  It you remember the other day, there was  the cow on the bike. THIS is the guy that bought it.  I like to show faces with the stories I tell.  Thanks Bill, we will be down to Texas when it is ready to be eaten.

 Not only do the LEOs block the entrance ramps, they will even stop cars on the road.

 At this stop, look what happened.  The respect shown is amazing.  

 Here is a ramp closed and RFTW on the right.  I got lucky on this shot. Held camera over my head.

All day long the LEOs and our road guard work like a well oiled machine.  They roll around us and keep us safe.  Amazing as we had no cars to worry about today. 

Here is our ambassador team.  I hope to be going with them in the next few days.

Great facility for lunch.

 Here is the presentation from RFTW thanking all the people and organizations involved with our lunch.  They also paid for the fuel.  Thanks all .

At Lunch, I met Randy.  He is from Illinois and this is his third year.  The first 2 years he rode from Corydon, IN to DC.  This year he got enough time off to go all the way.  He also server in Desert Storm.  Nice to see the younger generation embracing the Run.  Thank Randy and welcome to the Run family.

 If you look real close, you can see the LEOs leading us

 I took lots of pics heading up to Angel Fire.  Sorry there are not more but we got a little rain. And the internet is really slow tonight and taking lots of time loading pics. But hope you enjoy the few I have.

 It was a gorgeous ride.  As we get to Angel Fire Vietnam Memorial,  the wind is pretty strong. This flag stayed out like it had starch in it.

 The staging team are ready for us.  But as we started parking the bikes, it started to sleet and it got colder. BRRRR

 

Twenty minutes later the sun is out and it is even getting warmer.  Wow was the quick.

The memorial maintains a UH-1D model Huey helicopter,  known originally as "Viking Surprise," one of the first smokeships used in Vietnam. On March 26, 1967, the helicopter, while rescuing service personnel, was so badly damaged – 135 bullet holes – that it was returned to the United State for repairs. The copter returned to Vietnam and was later sent to the New Mexico National Guard, which donated it to the Angel Fire memorial.

Becca and Shawn have a seat on the inside

 We head into Eagle Nest NM for the night.  This is main street.  The population is about 300 so when we come into town, we over double that.

 They always have the most interesting cakes.  Yes, this is a cake and it tasted awesome!!!!

Food here is all homemade.  I wayyyy over eat here.  I want to try a little bit of everything!

One of the things that is very interesting  is trying to figure what to wear.  It was cold this morning, then got to 70, then we had rain and sleet.  You cannot stop and add clothes or rain gear.  Well I guess you can, you just have to get out of the pack.  LOL  

Some of us look at each other and say "What are you wearing?"  And we try to  best guess the day.

Tomorrow I hope the internet is a little better.  We were able to go to Angel Fire this past Labor Day and join in  helping laying of the bricks.  It was an amazing day. I took a few pics (go figure) and would really like  to share the experience.

At the last gas stop we had, the lady there must keep track of the number of bikes the fuel and the time it takes.  She said we set a record today:  

355 bikes in 16 1/2 minutes.  WAY TO GO FUEL TEAM!!

Temps: 50-70

Route: I-40E, I-25N, 599,84/285,68,585,64

Miles:289

Quote of the day:

All gave some, some gave all.